From one of the most brilliant imaginations in science fiction comes Flinx Transcendent, Alan Dean Foster’s thrilling conclusion to the series that began over thirty-five years ago – the epic adventures of Flinx and his flying minidrag companion, Pip. Flinx is the only one with even the tiniest chance of stopping the evil colossus barreling in to destroy the Humanx Commonwealth (and everything else in the Milky Way). With time running out, Flinx is a man in search of a solution and in search of himself. His efforts take him to the land of his mortal enemies, the bloodthirsty AAnn, where chances are excellent that Flinx’s discovery – and summary execution – will eliminate all his demons and doubts in one masterstroke. The way Flinx is feeling, that might not be the worst imaginable end. After years of searching for his father, he finally has – and must bear – the truth. And now he must also seek out an ancient sentient weapons platform wandering around somewhere in the galaxy and then communicate with it, a powwow that could very well fry his already frazzled brain. Then there are the oblivion-craving assassins determined to stop Flinx before he can prevent total annihilation. With a future that rosy, it’s no surprise he’s flirting with disaster. Still, Flinx is no quitter, and he’s got something else going for him – an uncanny ability to improvise and triumph (or at least survive) in impossible situations. He’s certainly been through enough of them, and now he’s going to need every ounce of that know-how, because he’s venturing to places where the laws of physics fear to tread, where no one’s ever been, to do what no one’s ever done, and where his deadliest enemy is so close it’s invisible.
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Editorial Reviews
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Praise for Alan Dean Foster’s Pip & Flinx series:
“An entertaining, imaginative adventure with a likable protagonist.”
—Library Journal
“Entertaining . . . Foster knows how to spin a yarn.”
—Starlog
From the Hardcover edition. --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.
“An entertaining, imaginative adventure with a likable protagonist.”
—Library Journal
“Entertaining . . . Foster knows how to spin a yarn.”
—Starlog
From the Hardcover edition. --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.
About the Author
ALAN DEAN FOSTER has written in a variety of genres, in¬cluding hard science fiction, fantasy, horror, detective, western, historical, and contemporary fiction. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller Star Wars: The Approaching Storm, as well as novelizations of several films including Star Wars, the first three Alien films, and Alien Nation. His novel Cyber Way won the Southwest Book Award for Fiction in 1990, the first science fiction work ever to do so. Foster and his wife, JoAnn Oxley, live in Prescott, Arizona, in a house built of brick that was salvaged from an early-twentieth-century miners’ brothel.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"Up the universe!",
By H. Bala "Me Too Can Read" (Just moved to posh Marina Del Rey, CA - where if you drop a quarter, why, you just keep on walking) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
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This review is from: Flinx Transcendent (Pip & Flix Adventures) (Mass Market Paperback)
One final story in which our guy again overachieves, one final grand adventure for Philip Lynx and his empathetic (and very venomous) Alaspinian flying snake, Pip. This series began in 1972, and after more than 35 years of regaling us with Flinx's evolution and his search for identity and his quest to halt an encroaching cosmic evil, Alan Dean Foster has at last produced the finale. In one sense, I honestly don't know that this has been worth the wait because, frankly, the past decade or so hadn't produced a lot of terrific Pip & Flinx novels. Somewhere along the way, these books lost the heart and fun that made the earlier books so enjoyable to read. Somewhere along the way, the series started dragging. FLINX TRANSCENDENT, however, is a return to what's good, and I really liked how Foster paced the story. There were rarely lulls. Of course, if you've been tracking this series all along, this has to qualifiy as a must-read, if only so that you know how everything turns out.
It's the longest Pip & Flinx installment yet, and it does seem as if Foster had just opted to paste three story arcs together. The first segment informs us that a jaded Flinx has breached the AAnn's homeworld and has been skulking around in a lizard suit, passing himself off as AAnn (just because he can). But Flinx isn't as clever or as circumspect as he thought he was. The AAnn soon enough suspect something shady, and Flinx has to go on the run. Finding himself trapped in the AAnn's capital, his salvation may rest on an unpredictable young Aann. What happens next demonstrates yet again that, despite his best intentions, Flinx just cannot do things on a small scale. His actions will have a profound effect on Humanx-AAnn relations. This story arc, which just may be my favorite of the three, is highlighted by the interactions between Flinx and the young AAnn, Kiijeem. The middle arc finds Flinx reunited with his sweetheart Clarity Held and with his old scholarly mentors Truzenzuzex and Bran Tse-Mallory. There's time enough also for another assault from the Order of Null, that murderous cult that worships oblivion, worships the impending cosmic "Great Cleansing." And then, in one of them deus ex machina moments, a character I was pretty fond of, who debuted way back in ORPHAN STAR, resurfaces. She pulls Flinx's asssterisk out of the fire. The third and final arc has Flinx once and for all addressing the Great Evil, that malignant entity hurtling from the Great Emptiness and speeding ever nearer to our galaxy, consuming all matter in its path... and accelerating. Down the years, Flinx and his companions have criss-crossed the breadth of the Humanx Commonwealth, desperately seeking a solution. They've just about run out of options. More than ever, Flinx, with his wild, erratic Talents, is the key. He still doesn't know what this means. Longtime readers will enjoy this. New readers may get lost a bit. Alan Dean Foster ties loose threads that have been dangling from previous novels. This being the final book, it's apropos that familiar faces we met in those previous novels make a curtain call. My most favorite aliens introduced in the Pip & Flinx series have always been the massive, vastly inventive, very inquisitive Ulru-Ujurrians. So I'm very glad they showed up. What I didn't like was the manner in which they were summoned by Flinx. I thought he pulled a chump move on that one, and you can see why Clarity was so ticked off. Foster throws us another bone by providing an epilogue to another of his Humans Commonwealth novels, QUOFUM. Of course, if you haven't read QUOFUM, that bit of closure won't signify diddly. I enjoyed reading this book; it had me reminiscing a lot about those fantastic early novels in the series. I am definitely glad this cosmic threat was resolved at last. It's been a long time coming. I still hope to see more of Flinx and Pip and friends. Just because the writer's done writing novels about Flinx doesn't preclude his featuring him in short stories. Philip Lynx, he isn't even thirty yet. Surely he can top that "God's Ruler" thing he did.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hoping for another book in the series,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Flinx Transcendent (Pip & Flix Adventures) (Mass Market Paperback)
Since Flinx Transcendent by Alan Dean Foster is the last book in the Pip and Flinx series, I've been looking forward to it, but before ordering it, I read the reviews on amazon, which as usual were mixed, so it was a pleasant surprise that I enjoyed the first part of the book, which some readers thought was too unrelated to the rest of the book; but I thought that it did fit in with his thoughts about saving the universe. There was more action in the latter half, I admit, but it was all well written and suspenseful with a good--and believable--ending. I'm glad to have that wrapped up, but I'd love to see those characters again in a completely different adventure!(And it doesn't have to involve saving the universe.)
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Final Installment,
By
This review is from: Flinx Transcendent (Pip & Flix Adventures) (Mass Market Paperback)
Flinx Transcendent (2009) is the fourteenth SF novel in the Flinx & Pip series, following Patrimony. The initial work in this series is The Tar-Aiym Krang.
In the previous volume, Flinx discovered someone on Gestalt who could be his father. On the way to the remote cabin, his skimmer was shot down. The Tlel found him in the wilds and accompanied him on his way. Then an avalanche buried Flinx and his companions. With a little help from Pip, Flinx dug himself out of the snow. He was the only survivor, so he and Pip continued on toward the cabin. Local scavengers followed them and even attacked whenever he seemed exhausted. In this novel, Philip Lynx discovered that he was gengineered from human DNA. He has the intermittent ability to read emotions and occasionally to project them. Flinx lives in a universe of mental noise and has frequent headaches. Pip is an Alaspinian minidrag. Her species are natural empaths. They are also very dangerous pets, at least to those who attack them or their kin. Kiijeem AVMd is the youngest scion of a very rich AAnn merchant. He has a vivid imagination and enjoys night excursions into the wilder parts of his family's estate. He arms himself with small, but real weapons and defenses. Clarity Held is Flinx's sweetheart. She was injured in an attack upon Flinx and left behind upon New Riviera for treatment. Flinx very much misses her presence. Bran Tse-Mallory is a human and had been half the crew on a Humanx sting ship. He is now a sociologist within the Church. Truzenzuzex is a thranx and had been the other half of the sting ship crew. Tru is now a philosoph within the Church. In this story, Flinx is visiting the AAnn homeworld in a simsuit. He and Pip look like a nye as they wander around the capital. They have quarters in the suburbs, where they eat and air out the suit. Flinx is observing the AAnn as they work and play. He probably knows more about the creatures in their normal environment than anyone else from Humanx space. He is learning much about their typical behavior in an urban setting. After a couple of weeks in the city, someone notices that Flinx is using counterfeit money. Armed enforcers are waiting for him at his rented quarters. He runs with them in close pursuit, but manages to shake them using his Talent. The search spreads out faster than he can move. He is driven away from the wildlands where he had landed and expects to catch the shuttle back to his ship. He eventually finds a hiding place in a private estate. Kiijeem lives and hunts on his family's estate. One night he finds something more dangerous than he had expected in his hunts. At first, he thinks that the intruder is another nye, but then Flinx reveals that he is a softskin. Flinx gradually becomes a friend of Kiijeem, telling him stories of Humanx space. Finally, Flinx explains the situation and asks if he knows anyone that can help. Kiijeem takes him to some friends. Meanwhile, Clarity has been on New Riviera for about a year. Bran and Tru took her to the medical facility and have been keeping an eye on her as they wait for Flinx to return. She has almost recovered from the injuries. This tale is the last volume in the series. Other tales of the Humanx Commonwealth may be forthcoming, but probably no more novels about Philip Lynx. Read and enjoy! Highly recommended for Foster fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of interplanetary adventures, alien cultures and extraordinary young men. -Arthur W. Jordin
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